The usual way would be to store the dbh in a package variable and have a method for it, i.e. 
package TArtLib;
use strict;
use vars qw($dbh);
...
sub dbh {
  return $dbh;
}

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Then TArt::Editor invokes the method: 
package TArt::Editor;
use TArtLib;
...
my $dbh = TArtLib->dbh;

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Note the usage of TArtLib inside of TArt::Editor; that relieves the code which calls TArt::Editor from knowing what other modules are required.

The dbh class method would also be a good place to initialize things (or call an initialization method) if $dbh is false.

Update:If what you want is one-time initialization, then this is definitely the way to go. Don't use the package $dbh directly, but go through a method as shown here; and use that method to do the one-time initialization: 

sub dbh {
  unless ($dbh) {
    # connect to the database now.
  }
  return $dbh;
}

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In reply to Re: OOP Access of variables by TheoPetersen
in thread OOP Access of variables by simeon2000

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